American women roll to team gymnastics gold

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

Updated

LONDON
–
In the aftermath of the most crushing moment of Jordyn Wieber's gymnastics life, her coach John Geddert was bombarded with hundreds of texts, tweets and emails. The question was the same. How would Wieber respond?

By Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

USA gymnasts McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, Alexandra Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas, Jordyn Weiber celebrate with their gold medal after the women's team gymnastics final during the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena.

USA gymnasts McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, Alexandra Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas, Jordyn Weiber celebrate with their gold medal after the women's team gymnastics final during the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena.

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On Sunday the world champion finished fourth in qualifying and was denied the opportunity to compete for individual Olympic gold because international rules allow only two gymnasts per country in the finals. Would Wieber's heartbreak affect the USA's chances for the team gold?

On Tuesday night, Wieber answered that question in the opening moments of the team final. She was the first gymnast up in the USA's first rotation. There would be no easing into it.

Before the announcer at North Greenwich Arena even got a chance to introduce the first event, Wieber was racing down the runway. "We don't listen to the announcer," said teammate McKayla Maroney. Once they get the green light that flashes on the scoreboard, "then we're off!"

As Wieber nailed her landing, a huge smile spread across her face. As she left the floor, the first person to embrace her was Aly Raisman, her best friend and teammate who grabbed one of the USA's two spots in the individual all-around.

It was a brilliant start to a golden ending as the Americans won their first Olympic team gold since the "Magnificent Seven" in 1996. The coach of that team, Bela Karolyi, called this group a "stronger, more prepared, united" team. Though there was no Kerri Strug ankle-grabbing drama, there was the redemptive story of Jordyn Wieber.

The Americans finished more than five points ahead of silver-medalist Russia. Romania took the bronze. In a sport usually decided by tenths, "that's a good old fashioned shed-whupping," as Geddert put it.

Geddert has coached Wieber, who is from DeWitt, Mich., throughout her career. No one knows her steely demeanor as competitor better. Which is why he had no doubts she would lead her team to the gold with barely a bobble.

"I never doubted her for a second," he said. "She didn't have a bad day in prelims. She just didn't have a great day and her teammates did. I could have never been more proud of the kid and the way she responded today."

Wieber has also been struggling with a bruised heel for the last month and a half, Geddert said.

After Sunday's results, Wieber cried. She received a pep talk from her best friends, Raisman and Maroney. Then picked herself off the mat, just like she has done countless times after a miscue on the beam or a stumble on a landing.

"Today was pretty good redemption," Wieber said. "I was pretty disappointed. I knew I had to mentally turn it around for the team."

It's telling that Wieber went first in vault among the USA's three-person line-up. All the U.S. coaches didn't doubt Wieber would bounce back.

"We wanted a strong, consistent leader to get off and running," Geddert said. "Who better than your world champion?"

After Wieber's vault, Douglas was next. The only American entered in all four disciplines Tuesday (three athletes go each rotation), Douglas flew through their air and landed without peril. Then, Maroney, the best in the world, put on a show.

All three U.S. gymnasts have an Amanar in their bag of tricks. Maroney does what can only be described as a turbo-charged Amanar. The move is one of the toughest there is in the sport: a roundoff onto the takeoff board, followed by a back handspring onto the vault and then 2.5 twists in the air before landing.

"McKayla Maroney's was an absolute moonshot," Geddert said. "They should rename the vault. They should call it the 'Maroney' because it's a different league. She does it so much higher and faster and cleaner and more dynamic than the normal human."

The Americans entered these Olympics as gold medal favorites. They established their dominance last year at worlds by winning the title by a whopping four points over Russia. China, which won the gold in the 2008 Games, was third, followed by Romania.

Even so, as the team's recent history shows, the top spot on the podium wasn't a given. The USA won worlds in 2003 and 2007 before earning team silver in the Olympics one year later. In Athens and Beijing, the Americans had several last-minute injuries.

Still, Bela Karolyi said no other team compared to the USA. "This is the deepest team in the world," he said.

And it started with Wieber. Her strengths have always been her laser focus, her power and the level of difficulty of her routines. Afterward Bela Karolyi said her performance pleased him the most given the obstacle overcome.

"I'm most excited and happy about her," he said. "This kid was hammered by the stupid rule, stupid rule." As for the field competing in individual final Thursday without the world champ, he said, "That is not an all-around final, no! That is an invitational. That is an Olympic invitational."

What made the difference for Wieber in the team final? "She is a strong personality," he said.

An indication of her mindset might have come from a tweet earlier Tuesday:

"TEAM FINALS TODAY! Really feeling the USA spirit and we are ready to go!!!"

By the end of the first event, the stage was set for what was to come. "We could not have done a better vault rotation. Bang, bang, bang," Douglas said.

"It was like boom, boom, boom," Maroney said.

Bang, bang, bang, boom, boom, boom. The beat continued.

On uneven bars, Wieber didn't dazzle, but she didn't make any major mistakes either. Afterward, the expression on her face — satisfied relief.

With a 1.299 lead over Russia heading into the final rotation, the gold medal was well in reach. Douglas went first on the floor. Usually the gymnast going next tries not to watch, given the distraction good or bad, but Wieber stole several glances as she chalked up her hands. "Let's go Gabby!" she shouted. She smiled.

Wieber was just as brilliant. She shimmied and tumbled through a smooth routine. When Raisman finished up on floor, the gold was secure.

Raisman, like the rest of her teammates, has watched a video of the USA's 1996 Olympic gold medal performance countless of times. Their unity is what stands out to her the most. "It was so magical watching them compete," Raisman said.

On Tuesday, the 2012 Olympic gold medalists made magic of their own.

"This couldn't be possible without everyone stepping up today," Wieber said. "Everyone did their job and was completely amazing. I am so excited."